


From beyond the grave

by Multifandom_damnation



Category: The Umbrella Academy (TV)
Genre: Blood and Gore, Dysfunctional Family, Family Dynamics, Gen, I'm Bad At Tagging, Implied/Referenced Drug Addiction, Kidnapping, Original Character(s), Protective Siblings, Restraints, Revenge, Talking To Dead People, Torture
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-03-11
Updated: 2019-06-18
Packaged: 2019-11-15 13:46:28
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 2
Words: 7,693
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18074534
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Multifandom_damnation/pseuds/Multifandom_damnation
Summary: Klaus knows what torture is like- knows the fear and the desperation when he realized that there was nobody coming to rescue him. But he's here now- and he'd be dammed if he lets his family go through the same thing he did. So what if he's the reason that they're in this problem in the first place. He's sober and Ben is by his side and he knows now what the ghosts will do to get revenge.As he said- he has experience with this sort of thing.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> There is really only mentions of torture, nothing too drastic. I know this is a weird thing to write but I loved when this happened in ep5 so I just wanted it to happen again but with all his siblings there to witness it. I didn't mean to give the bad guys such personality but that's how it turned out. Let me know how silly this stupid fic is x
> 
> (Let me know if there are so more tags that I should add)
> 
> (Started writing this for myself but because you asked for it anyway, this is for Mhxirii)

It surprised no one that Luther was the last to wake, tied up with metal chains to a heavy chair in the corner, his mind still foggy from whatever it was that they knocked him out with. Beside him was Five and Diego, both in similar situations but much less secure bindings, and both bleeding and bruised. Five had a heavy weight on his legs. “What the fuck is going on?” he hissed.

“Oh look, sleeping beauty finally wakes,” Diego grumbled under his breath. “The fucking guys from the hotel followed us home. We’ve been here for a couple of hours.”

“It seems more premeditated than we first suspected,” Five said. “They took care of the biggest threat first- which would be you- then moved on to the rest of us.”

Looking around the room, Luther saw Allison tied up and gagged in the corner and Vanya after obviously been deemed the least threatening, was tied up with a long strand of rope and tossed onto the couch. Diego’s knives were gone from all their holsters and Luther could see them on a table on the far side of the room. “What do they want with us?”

Diego bit his lip to keep from shouting. “Nothing yet,” His voice was strained and Luther glanced over in worry. There was a nagging suspicion that he was missing something, but the light in the room was too dim for him to see and his eyes hadn’t adjusted to the darkness yet, so he was left confused and waiting for Diego to finish. And then he spotted it- a hideous coat with faux fur inlay and pink polka-dots lying over the small counter on the kitchenette.

“Oh no,” Luther panicked. “Where’s Klaus?”

Five pointed his chin in the direction of the bedroom, where a light was spilling out from under the closed door. Luther couldn’t hear anything distinct, but he knew something bad was going to happen. “They took him in there when he started bad mouthing them. I think they wanted him from the start though- probably got mixed up with something while he was high and never paid them back.”

“Vanya?” Diego called out and Luther turned his attention to his sister, who was trying to wiggle further up the couch. “Can you see what they’re doing? Hear anything?”

After a moments pause, Vanya shook her head. “All I can hear is Klaus laughing and taunting them. I don’t know what he thinks it’s going to accomplish but I’m pretty sure he’s been doing it for a while.”

“If this is really all because he screwed over some other stoners,” Diego grumbled under his breath as he shifted to get comfortable. “I’m going to kill him.”

“That is if these men don’t kill us first,” Five pointed out. “Depending on what they want, we could be dead by the morning and nobody would even know that our bodies were missing.”

Luther took a slow, calculating breath. “Well, we know Klaus is going to be alright,” he reasoned. “He’s gone through this before and Five, you said that Cha-Cha and Hazel were the most violent and deadly assassins you had ever known. These guys aren’t them. He’s survived it once and he’ll do it again.”

“Pull your head out of your ass, Luther,” Diego snapped. “Just because he knows what it’s like to be tortured doesn’t mean he’ll be fine doing it again. Don’t use the experience as your fucking scapegoat.”

“At least he’s not alone this time,” Vanya broke the tense silence that followed by softly speaking out, eyes still on the door. “We’re here, for better or for worse. And Ben is with him.”

Allison, who had been listening intently to his sibling’s conversation and any sounds pushing through the wood of the closed door, made a muffled sound from behind her gag. After a moment, the others turned to look at her and she jerked her head towards the door with wide eyes. “What’s wrong Allison?” Luther asked and Allison rolled her eyes.

Before anyone could decipher what she was trying to tell them, the door to the bedroom was tossed open, bright light spilling into the room, and a stool was kicked out. “Wee!” Klaus laughed as the stool he was strapped to rolled across the floor and only stopped when his head hit the back wall. “That was the most fun I’ve had in ages.” From the light of the bedroom, they Hargreeves could see the blood on Klaus’ teeth and down his shirt, the bruises on his skin and the cuts across his body. He looked at ease though, while somewhat crazed, but he didn’t seem any worse for wear.

From the bedroom strolled three men, two more authoritative than the other and both with their hands and shoes coated in Klaus’s blood. “You’re a maniac, you know that.” The man with the cap said, pulling his head down lower over his eyes. “You can’t possibly like getting beaten up like this.”

Klaus frowned up at him, unimpressed. “Who are you kidding, Kyle? Take that damn hat off, we all know who we are.” He raised an eyebrow at the other two men. “You too. Jordan, that mask looks so stupid and you really should know better than to wear something so hideous, Michael.”

Jordan took the mask off and threw it onto the ground in frustration while Michael pulled the hood down and Kyle wrung his hat between his hands. “What the fuck are you doing, giving away our names?” Jordan waved his hand pointedly at Diego. “One of these freaks is a cop and the other is a famous person and you’re just going to go and give our names away like that? I thought we were friends man.”

“We were never friends,” Klaus said bluntly. “I used you so I could get a roof over my head and money in my pocket, but I never gave a damn about what happened to you. What do you want? I never owed you anything and my family has nothing to do with whatever you’re blaming me for.”

Kyle crouched down before Klaus and waved a familiar knife around the air at him. Seeing it, Diego growled. “Listen, Klaus, I’m going to be honest with you. We don’t want to do this. But a contract is a contract and we’ve been hired by the Big Man up top to take care of you and that’s what we’re going to do.”

From behind them, Michael cleared his throat. “Uh, Kyle, we don’t need to do this.” Jordan elbowed him sharply in the ribs as he passed and he fell silent. Joran continued on his path and inspected the binding of the other siblings.

“Anyway,” Kyle continued, ignoring the interruption. “If the pay wasn’t as good as it was, we probably would have taken the body parts from poor sap we found on the street and told Big Man it was you we cut up, but the pays too good and Big Man cares too much about this. So, unfortunately for you, we have to follow through with our word.”

“What the hell does this ‘Big Man’ want with him anyway?” Diego snapped. Jordan tested his bindings and he thrashed and bit at him when he came close. “He hasn’t had anything to do with any of you for over a year.”

Kyle shrugged. “I don’t ask questions. All I know is that he stole something important from him and Big Man really wants it back.” Klaus frowned in confusion. “Oh come on, don’t act like you don’t know what I’m talking about.”

“I have no recollection from ever stealing anything from Big Man.” Klaus furrowed his brow and made a face as he thought. “Although, it’s possible. I was high the entire time I knew Big Man so I might have done it and I just don’t remember.” He tilted his head back against the stool and looked behind him. “Do you remember anything like that Ben? You were 99% of my impulse control back then so if it happened and you didn’t do anything to stop me then I’m entirely blaming you. No, now you’re only 80% of my impulse control. Don’t be like that.”

Jordan ran his hand down his face. “This fuck is crazy. Just take care of it and let’s go.”

“You’re right.” Kyle sat back on his hunches and nodded to an uncomfortably shifting Michael. “Go fetch the kit.” Michael looked like he wanted to argue but a pointed look from Kyle had him bowing his head and muttering under his breath as he walked away.

“What are you going to do to him?” Vanya asked timidly from where she was curled up on the couch, her arms bound to her torso and her legs wrapped together to prevent her from running away. Klaus, surprisingly, was relatively unfazed at the face of such threats. “You don’t have to hurt him just because you’ve been told to.”

“She’s right,” Michel said quietly as he re-entered the room with a big black bag. He fell silent at the withering glares from his partners. “Sorry.”

Kyle took the bag from Michael and ignored both him and Vanya’s comments. “You know we’re honest men Klaus so we have to bring back some proof and everything we’ve done so far just doesn’t seem to work on a fuck-up like you, so we’re stepping it up a little.”

“Ugh,” Jordan grimaced as Kyle opened a bag and brought a strong pair of metal pliers to the tip of Klaus’s perfectly manicured nail. “I hate this part. It’s so gross.”

“Don’t look then,” Kyle glanced up at Klaus who didn’t pull away and didn’t try and resist in any way. “Sorry Klaus- if there was another way, we would have much rather taken that, but you know how we run things. But you know we’re honest, caring people and we never do anything we don’t have to. We’re mostly law abiding and kind to the homeless so you can’t really fault us.”

Klaus looked down his nose at him and at that moment Klaus knew how much more powerful he really was than them. “You’re not kind, law-abiding folk. Your thieves and murders.”

Jordan scoffed. “You can’t call us murders if you can’t prove that we’ve actually killed anyone.”

Shrugging, Klaus glanced at the ghost in the corner, a woman in a pink floral dress and wide-brimmed sun hat that was sitting beside a proudly grinning Ben on the counter. She had a wide gash across her throat that was still leaking blood. Luckily, Klaus had the foresight to ask for her name beforehand. “Well, Tracy Birchen says otherwise.”

Michael gasped so loudly he choked on his spit. Joran spun around to face him so fast Klaus thought he might have gotten whip-lash and the tweezers slipped from Kyle’s shock-slack fingers and back into the bag. Even his siblings, while mildly confused, were surprised and impressed. Ben was practically radiating pride and vibrating where he sat in his excitement.

“How the absolute _fuck_ do you know about Tracy Birchen?” Jordan demanded and but even with the distance between them, Klaus could see him shaking. “Nobody should know about her. We-”

“You slit her throat and let her bleed to death in the boot of your car and then you dumped her body in a cornfield,” Klaus said evenly, trying to keep the smug grin off of his face. Next to Ben, the female ghost covered her mouth with both hands and nodded eagerly. “A little _corny_ , hey?”

Kyle stood up and backed away. “What the fuck is wrong with you? How the hell do you know all of that?” He whirled on Michael who was looking at Klaus with wide, frightened eyes. “ _You_! You must have told him everything. You’ve always hated working with us and Big Man, ever since we started! You ratted on us?”

“No,” Klaus interrupted before Michael had a chance to defend himself. “Your memory is as bad as your fashion sense Kyle. Don’t you remember why Big Man hired me in the first place?  Ghosts like me and this one is _really_ mad at you.”

Jordan scoffed. “You can’t talk to ghosts. You said so yourself- you always made up some spooky bullshit when Big Man asked you to talk to victims, there’s no way you can actually talk to Tracy. You’re bluffing.”

Klaus shrugged, unconcerned. “I got better. And I’m learning that sometimes all ghosts want to do is watch while the people who killed them get punished.” He cocked his head. “I don’t suppose you three have health insurance?”

Huffing, Kyle angrily shoved a gag into Klaus’s mouth in a similar situation to Allison and walked away. “Come on,” He called over his shoulder to the other two. “Let’s talk.” Michael lagged behind and took another, fearful look at Klaus until Jordan grabbed him by the arm and dragged him into the bedroom and shut the door.

Diego looked between the gagged Klaus and the door. “Klaus, what the fuck was that all about?”

Instead of replying to Diego in whatever way he could with a rag in his mouth, he made a muffled noise and suddenly the gag was magically removed from his jaw. Ben glared at it and dropped it to the floor and ground it under his foot. “What assholes.” He said. “You did great though.”

“I did, didn’t I?” Klaus grinned. “God, you were right. Being sober is so worth it if I get to scare people like that.”

“Klaus, what the fuck is going on here?” Luther demanded, getting angrier and angrier with every word he spoke. Five hushed him and he tried his best to keep his voice down. “We all get kidnapped by people you used to know and you’re talking about people they had killed and now the gag just somehow levitated away from you?”

Five rolled his eyes. “Come on Luther. For once, could you at least try not to be so incompetent.” He turned his attention back to Klaus. “Is Ben here with you?”

“He’s always here, shorty,” Klaus joked before turning back to his brother. “Ben, could you take the gag out of Allison’s mouth too?” Ben nodded and Allison’s gag dropped to the ground.

Gasping, Allison looked around the room at all her siblings. “What the fuck is going on?”

“Don’t fret dear sister,” Klaus relaxed and got comfortable against the chair. “I have a plan to save us all. We just have to wait a few more days.”

“ _Days_?” Luther demanded. He tested the metal chains that wrapped around his body and the heavy metal chair but he was bound tight. “If you’ve really got a plan then why the hell do we have to prolong being tied up and tortured?”

Klaus glared daggers at him. “I need more ghosts. I’ve only seen one in the whole time we’ve been here and we all know that they’ve killed way more than just Tracy. The longer we’re here and the more I concentrate the more ghosts will show up.”

Luther shook his head. “Face it, Klaus, you’re just as lost as the rest of us.”

“It’s more of a plan then you’ve got, Number One,” Diego snapped. He turned to Klaus once Luther lost the staring contest and was forced to glance away. “What does Ben say about all of this?”

Scowling, Ben crossed his arms and leant against the wall. “I think that they need to get a grip and to trust you for once in their god damn lives. I mean really, it’s not going to kill them any quicker to just give you a chance. Who the fuck do they think they are anyway?” When Klaus ignored him, Ben waved his hand in front of his face. “Go on, tell them.”

“It doesn’t matter what Ben thinks at the moment,” Klaus hid his smirk at the way Ben threw his arms up in the air. “But all you need to know is that he agrees with me. And besides, he’s a very important part of the plan anyway.”

“It’s getting a little hard to follow along with your idea’s Klaus,” Allison interjected. “You’re not exactly the most trustworthy person here and you’re the reason we’re in this mess anyway.”

Vanya spoke up and broke the tense silence that followed. “I trust Klaus. If he says he can get us out of here, we just have to believe that he will. And besides, it’s not like anyone has any better ideas.” The second comment was directed at Luther, who huffed and sat defeated in his chair.

Five bit his lip. “I dislike having so many extraneous variables that we have no control over, but right now Klaus is our best bet. Is there anything you need from us?”

But Klaus wasn’t answering, wasn’t even listening to any part of his sibling’s conversation, because a small cluster of mutilated ghosts floated through the wall. If Klaus was being honest with himself, the sight of them still made him uneasy and the sound of them screaming his name was like nails on a chalkboard, but he was getting better. “Hello,” he said tentatively. “What are your names?”

A man dragged himself forward, wearing a bloodstained lab coat, and missing a wide arrange of body parts including both his legs and one arm up to the elbow. There was frost on his eyebrows and the tips of his hair and his few remaining fingers were the dark, rotting purple of frostbite. “I’m Doctor Tom Halfner,” he announced. “They tied me up and used liquid nitrogen to freeze away my legs and then smashed them with a hammer so I could watch. They broke into my lab while I was working on my newest project and demanded I tell them the information their boss needed to make his weapons.”

Before Klaus even had the time to answer another ghost stepped forward, wearing oil-coated overalls, his entire body smashed flat into a bleeding and broken mess. “Johnny Ridges.” His voice that rasped like a fire over hot coals. “They broke into my barn while I was working on my tracker and dropped the whole thing on top of me while I was still under it.”

A little girl stepped forward, holding a teddy bear and Klaus couldn’t tell how she had died at first until he noticed the harsh burns on her disfigured skin and the bloating of her waterlogged flesh. “I’m Mary,” She said quietly and hugged her teddy closer to her chest. It was missing an ear. “They took me from my bed while I was sleeping because my mummy and daddy were mean to them, and they drowned me in a really hot bath. They called it a Ban-Marie and laughed because they thought I looked funny.”

“Klaus!” Diego called and Klaus blinked back into the present. “Are you even listening? What’s wrong?” But Klaus didn’t care- all he could focus on was the group of ghost’s dead before him, Ben’s proud smile he was poorly hiding behind his hand and the pounding in his chest. “Klaus?”

“Well, I guess we don’t have to wait a few days,” he said shakily. “I think I’ve just hit the jackpot.”

“You’re doing great Klaus,” Ben encouraged, moving around the ghosts and placing a hand on his brother’s arm. It was forever grateful that Klaus was strong enough now that Ben could touch things again. “Just keep this up, keep calm, stay strong, and we’ll be out of here in no time at all.”

“Do you know your part of the plan?” Klaus asked and Ben nodded. “Good.  I feel like we’re going to need you to do it soon. Let’s just hope I can take care of the rest.”

Luther sighed heavily. “Klaus, can you please just tell us the fucking plan? Talking to Ben isn’t going to help us.”

Resisting the urge to roll his eyes again, Five strained his neck to glare at his brother. “Could you be patient for just once in your god damn life? If Klaus says he has a plan then he has a plan. Simple.”

“Yeah,” Diego muttered under his breath. “It’s more of one than you’ve ever had anyway.”

“I agree with Luther,” Allison interjected, resulting in groans in from the rest of the room.

“OF course she does,” Ben muttered to Klaus who agreed with a gentle hum.

“What?” Allison snapped. “He is the leader after all. What Luther says goes, remember? I think that Klaus should tell us what he’s planning so we can at least follow along with it. What if he does something and we fuck it up and the plan is ruined because we didn’t know?”

Despite Allison’s words making sense, Vanya still shook her head. “We should trust Klaus. I have a feeling that if he hasn’t already told us the plan then it revolves around us not knowing at all.”

While they were talking, Ben had drifted to listen against the door that the three men had gone through. He stood up straight and turned to Klaus urgently. “They’re coming.”

The door flew open with such a force that the handle slammed into the wall behind it and left a dent in the plaster. Kyle and Jordan strolled towards Klaus with murder on their faces while Michael hung back near the door, cradling his arm to his chest. Kyle kicked the big black bag away from Klaus’s feet, where it skidded to a stop beside Diego’s chair. “Take out his gag,” Michael ordered Jordan, who paused with his hand raised. “What?”

“It’s already out,” He caught sight of it on the floor and turned quickly to look at Allison. “Oh, shit so is hers.”

Allison took a breath in but before she could get out the first few words of her dangerous catchphrase Klaus interrupted hurriedly. “So, have you come to a decision? Are you going to chop me into teeny-tiny pieces and feed me to rabid dogs? Are you going to take out my eyes and use them as billiard balls? Are you going to turn my bones into a lamp?” He looked over at the bag now at Diego’s feet. “Are you still planning on taking my nails? Because I would like to keep those.”

A fist went flying across Klaus’s face and he reared back, blood flecking across the floor as his nose exploded in pain. Diego shouted something out and his chair started jumping wilding against the floor but Klaus couldn’t hear his words through the ringing in his ears. Jordan grabbed him by the lapels of his shirt and pulled him close. “Listen, freak. We’re going to take your head and give it to Big Man, and then we’re going to kill the others.”

Blinking his own blood out of his eyes, Klaus laughed. “Oh my, what a detailed plan. I’m guessing Michael didn’t come up with that one- it’s much too simple for him. He’s the smart one.”

Jordan pulled his arm back to punch him again but Kyle put a hand on his elbow. “Hey now, we don’t need to extend this any longer. I’m getting sick of this fool and his family it just a painful sight on sore eyes, so let’s make this quick.” He held his hand out and Michael slowly, reluctantly produced a long wicked cleaver from his side and handed it to Kyle. “Sorry about this Klaus.”

“Yeah yeah,” Klaus rolled his eyes. Behind the men, Klaus could see Ben struggling to contain his anger. It was much different from last time, with Cha-Cha and Hazel, where Ben just sat beside him passively, waiting for Klaus to save himself. But now that he could actually touch people, Klaus supposed it was a little different to just watch his brother get beat up. “You’re so boring. Before you, you know, put a sharp thing through my brain, there are actually a few new friends I’ve just met who want to say hi.”

“What the fuck are you-” Kyle began but paused at the look on Klaus’s face.

“There once was a scientist,” Klaus started in a sing-song voice. Over Kyle’s shoulder, Ben beamed. “Tom Halfner was his name. You froze of his limbs when he wouldn’t play your game. You use liquid nitrogen and broke them to pieces and not even the frostbite would make him squeal.” The look on their faces was all the encouragement Klaus needed, so he continued. “Johnny Ridges was a farmer, he worked on his tractor and before he could wheel himself out to say hello, you dropped the tractor and smashed him flat.” Michael was holding a hand over his face and shaking but Klaus didn’t pay him any mind because he knew none of it was his fault and really, he wasn’t his main concern. “And maybe the worse crime of all,” Klaus brought his voice down low. “Little miss Mary played with her teddy and you took her from her bed at home. You drowned her in a bath and boiled her up and now Mary can go home no more.”

Jordan shook Klaus like he was a snow globe and he wanted to cause an avalanche. “How the fuck do you know about them? How the fuck do you know?”

“He’s fucking with us,” Kyle said but he sounded suspiciously shaky. “He must have read it off of documents, or overheard us talking when he was still working for Big Man. He’s just fucking with us.”

Instead of answering, Klaus leant forward as much as he could until he was face to face with Jordan. “You’re sick.” He spat. “You boiled her alive in a Ban-Marie and laughed as she was dying.”

Ben grinned at Klaus in pride as Jordan’s and Kyle’s faces turned a stark shade of ashen when Klaus’s words set in. “It’s not possible,” Kyle whispered. “Nobody knows how we killed Mary, not even Big Man.”

“Well Mary knows,” Klaus said. “Mary remembers. So does Johnny and Tom and Tracy and all the other poor saps that you killed.” He made eye contact with a very giddy Ben and he nodded. Slowly, Klaus tightened his hands into a fist. “And they’ve been angry with you. Angry that they haven’t been able to take revenge. Until now.”

Blue light shone from the spaces between Klaus’s knuckles and Ben, who had taken his cue, shoved Kyle and Jordan into the angry horde of ghosts and rushed over to shove Klaus out of the way. The ghosts, now realizing that they could touch and feel and hurt, attacked Kyle and Jordan with everything they had- even little Mary. Ben quickly untied Klaus while the men behind them screamed and as Klaus rushed over to untie Diego, Ben grabbed Michael and dragged him out of the hotel room.

Once Diego was free he snatched up his knives from the kitchenette and began to cut away the rope tying his siblings. They watched in horror as Klaus held his hand out as strange shifting, humanoid spectres tore their captors to shreds. Ben hurried back into the room and took the key for Luther’s chains from Kyle’s pocket and tossed it to Klaus, who immediately passed it to Five and began to drag Vanya and Allison out of the hotel as blinding white light illuminated the world behind them.

When they had all finally made it out into the safety of the street, they turned back just as the lights died down and the screaming ceased. Klaus watched as the four ghosts floated out of the building and faded away. Mary waved at him, her bear covered in blood, and Klaus saluted them as they disappeared.

“What the absolute fuck was that Klaus?” Luther demanded, slightly afraid and out of breath but still needing answers. “That was crazy. How long have you been able to do that? And why haven’t you told us before?”

“It doesn’t matter,” Diego interrupted, strolling over. “What does matter is that he got us out of it. He saved our lives, again.” He clapped Klaus on the shoulder. “That Michael got away. Do you want us to go after him?”

Klaus shook his head. “Nah, leave him. He hasn’t really done anything wrong and it wasn’t anything he ever wanted to do in the first place. I think he deserves a fresh start.” He glanced around at all of his siblings who were looking at him with wide eyes. None of them were particularly hurt except for burns on their skin from where they tugged too hard on their bonds and Five and Diego were bruised from where they tried to fight back, but no-one was beaten up like him. “Everyone ready to go home?”

As everyone walked away in the direction of him, Vanya passed him and placed a kiss on his cheek. “I knew you could do it,” she whispered, smiling. “I believed in you.” And she was running to catch Diego’s outstretched hand before Klaus could reply.

Once Vanya was at Diego’s side, Ben took her place next to Klaus and stuffed his hands in his pockets. “You do know why they took us, right?”

Pausing, Klaus turned to him with a raised eyebrow. “No, I genuinely don’t remember. Why, do you? Oh you little minx, if you do you should have told me before I got my ass handed to me!"

Ben sighed heavily and rubbed at his forehead. “Fuck sake, Klaus. That solid gold statue that you took from Big Man's office. You woke up the next morning with it stuffed inside your underwear and you had no idea how you’d ever got it so you just pawned it for like, big bucks.”

Gasping, Klaus turned to Ben and grabbed him by the shoulders. “Holy fuck!” he exclaimed, shaking Ben, who for the most part was more amused than exasperated. “I stole a gold statue and you let me fucking sell it! Do you know cool I would have looked carrying a solid gold statue around with me?”

Laughing, Ben didn’t even have the heart to pull Klaus’s hands away. “You looked like a kid at a candy store. You know I can’t say no to that face.”

Grumbling good-naturedly under his breath, Klaus slipped his hand in Ben’s as they followed after their siblings but Klaus couldn’t help get in the last word. “Hang on,” he said. “If it was a solid gold statue that I stole from Big Man’s HQ, how in the ever-loving fuck did I get it out of there without anyone catching me?”

For the first time, Ben was glad that none of his other siblings could hear him as he cackled at a story only he knew but would never tell.


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I wasn't going to add another chapter to this, but @HumanR asked for it, and it was too good to refuse, so I hope you enjoy it x

Vanya’s apartment was closer than the Hargreeves Manor, so after compromising and insisting and arguing like they always do, they made the trek through the rainy roads towards the second-floor building that Vanya hastily ushered them inside of.

No one but Five and Allison had ever been inside her apartment, so seeing it was a slight shock to the other siblings. It was comfy and clean and minimalistic, with neutral colours and every available surface piled with soft looking pillows. The kitchen was small but functional and if it was during the day, the large, wide windows would allow a lot of natural light into the room. Vanya closed and locked the door behind them and hurried into the bathroom, calling over her shoulder. “I think I have some bandages, wait a moment.”

Klaus watched as his other siblings hobbled their way into the room with Luther and Diego mostly holding each other up, Allison who was holding a possibly broken finger to her chest and Five checking every nook and cranny to make sure nobody could get in. Ben had found a comfortable spot on the dresser to perch on, and kicked his legs idly and soundlessly against the side. “They look like shit.”

“Ben says you all look like shit,” Klaus repeated as he found a vacant couch and sat heavily down on it, forgetting for a moment to worry about getting blood stains on Vanya’s furniture. “And I can’t help but agree, because, in my experience, Ben is always right.”

Rolling his eyes, Ben threw his head back until it slammed loudly against the back wall, but only Klaus could hear it, but they both knew it didn’t hurt him either. “You don’t have to repeat _everything_ I say.”

Diego glowered and gratefully took the frozen bag of peas that Five passed to him. “Yeah, well, you don’t look any better, asshole,” He grunted as Luther shoved him over to shove an overly-fluffy pillow under his head. “What did you do, sit there and let them beat the hell out of you?”

“It’s a little hard to fight back when you’ve got your arms and legs tied to a chair, but don’t worry, I got a few good bites in.” Klaus shucked off his jacket and dropped it carelessly to the floor despite an annoyed look from Allison just as Vanya hurried back in with her arms filled with bandages and ice-packs and a bucket of cold water. “Oh, Vanya! Could you do us all a favour and stitch Diego’s mouth closed? I feel like it must be bothering him just as much as it’s bothering us.”

Before Diego could retort, Vanya dropped to the floor beside Luther and passed him an icepack. “I can do basic first aid, not so much stitching unless you’ve got a hole in your favourite skirt.” She replied as if the request was the easiest thing in the world. “Who’s hurt? Other than Diego and Klaus?”

“Neither of them would have been hurt of Diego didn’t fight when it was obvious we were losing and Klaus didn’t drunkenly steel something from an apparently powerful previous employer,” Allison said with an overly heavy sigh.

“Yeah, she’s fine,” Ben said from where he was watching and Klaus laughed heartily at him. Vanya must have come to the same conclusion because she shoved a roll of bandages into her arms and she caught it before it tumbled to the floor.

“You work on Five and Luther,” she commanded and it was so rare to hear Vanya commanding anything that Klaus was pleasantly surprised in all the best ways. “I’ll make sure Diego and Klaus aren’t bleeding out on my couch.”

Allison, looking a little startled, began gently prodding around the back of Luther’s head while Vanya knelt by Diego’s feet. Klaus, too tired and sore to move, just watched them impassively, even when Ben stood and moved to Five’s side to observe him from a distance. “I think he’s just tired,” Ben told Klaus. “But I wouldn’t take my word for it. He’s bleeding, but with Five we never know if it’s his blood of the people we’re fighting, honestly.”

“Don’t check Five,” Klaus summed up lazily, closing his eyes and resting his head on the back of the couch. “He just needs a nap.”

He ignored the look that Allison sent him and she passed Luther the icepack to put on the back of his head. “I think he’s just got a mild concussion, but he’ll be fine,” She said as she stood from the couch and made her way over to Five’s side who was already beginning to nod off.

“Well, if his head is anything like the rest of him, I’m sure he’ll be right as rain,” Diego grunted as Vanya touched his puffy wrist and she jerked away, apologizing. “Don’t worry. It’s just a sprain. The same way the swollen bruise on my face is just a black eye. I’ll deal with it- go make sure Klaus isn’t going to die on us.”

Klaus didn’t even bother opening up his eyes. “Oh, ye of little faith.”

“Don’t tease them, Klaus,” Ben sounded exasperated. “Or they might leave you do die. I know I would.”

“You _wouldn’t_.”

Vanya didn’t bother to ask who he was talking to, or maybe she didn’t mind, but she placed a light hand on Klaus’s shoulder and he reluctantly opened her aching eyes to look at her. “Can you get undressed?” She asked. “I can’t tell what’s wrong under all those layers. Sorry,”

Grudgingly, Klaus hoisted himself up and slowly began to peel his sticky clothing away from his skin. “No worries at all. I knew that you’ve been busting to get me out of my clothes for a long while. I don’t blame you. Most people often do.”

“You are so full of yourself,” Ben crossed his legs under him and rested his chin on his hand. “And gross. That’s your _sister_. Why the hell would she want you to take your clothes off?”

“The ladies love me, Benny,” Klaus said as he pulled the shirt over his head. “Men do too, but that’s a different story. Besides, with that thing Luther and Allison have going, I highly doubt that my making a joke would be-”

He was interrupted by the sharp intake of breath from behind him and when he turned around, he was met by four pairs of eyes on him. Even Five seemed to be wide awake when just moments before he was on the verge of falling asleep. “Klaus, what the hell?” Luther hissed, sitting up straighter with his hand still holding the icepack to the back of his head.

“What?” Klaus looked down at himself and couldn’t see what everyone was so freaked out about. To his credit, Ben looked confused as well. “Have I suddenly grown abbs overnight or something? Why are you all freaking out? You’ve seen me without a shirt before?”

Ben had his face scrunched up. Diego was looking Klaus up and down as if he was seeing him for the very first time. “What are all those scars?”

Klaus ran his hand over his torso and where there was new bruises and cuts and lumps from being beaten to a pulp not hours before, he felt the lumpy skin of mostly-healed wounds and scabs that littered his skin, faint-white scars from many years ago and the daily injuries for living on the streets. “Oh,” he ran his knuckles down his ribs that stuck through his skin and over the gash he had hastily bandaged the moment it happened. “This? Don’t worry, it’s not too bad anymore. You should have seen it three weeks ago. That was crazy!”

“Are you fucking with us?” Luther asked, surprised. “How many times have we seen you since that happened, and you never said a word?”

“Oh, you’ve seen me every day since then,” Klaus frowned. “I don’t understand why this is such a big deal.” He turned to Ben who was carefully looking between sibling to sibling. “Can _you_ understand why this is such a big deal?”

Shrugging, Ben looked Klaus up and down, trying to search for anything that he could possibly categorise as shocking. “Not sure. I guess being someone who doesn’t watch it happen on a daily basis would be surprised to see it for the first time.”

“What about that one?” Vanya took her hand away from where it was covering her mouth to point at a painful lump that had mostly faded to a raised red rash. “How did that happen?”

“Oh, I think I fell off a third-floor balcony to escape some people I owed money too,” Klaus twisted himself in an odd angle in an attempt to glance at where she was talking about. “I hit a railing on the way down. Or it could have been a ladder or some scaffolding, but the good news is, I didn’t hit my head, so no major brain-damage other than what some of you think I already have.”

Allison had come over now and was running her fingers over his shoulder blades where he knew a scar was slowly fading. “And this?”

“You see, it takes a little while once you’re thrust into the real world like a baby bird out of its nest to realize that not everyone is like us and that people who throw knives at you aren’t going to hit a moving target where they hope or miss you completely, like dearest Diego always does.”

Ben had now come around to lean on the back of where Klaus was recently sat in and watched with a smile on his face as Klaus tried to keep up with answering his sibling's barrage of questions. “They’re never going to believe you. Just get it over with so we can all have a nap.”

“Ben’s right!” Klaus announced, stepping back from Allison’s pokey fingers and beside Ben. “If I’m all right and dandy, I would like to request that you allow me to get dressed and take a well-deserved nap. I did just get us all out of being tortured or killed, you know.”

“You’re also the reason we were in that problem in the first place,” Five grumbled as he folded his hands over his abdomen and lowered his head down until his chin rested on his chest. “If you hadn’t stuck your nose where it didn’t belong, I would have been able to get my god damned cup of coffee by now.”

Klaus glowered at him and pointed a long, finely pained and manicured nail at him. “Shut up, old man. Get yourself a cup of prune juice and chill the fuck out.”

“Klaus, some of those look really bad.” Luther insisted and Klaus rolled his eyes. “Are you sure you don’t want us to take a look at those before we settle down for the night?”

Ben dropped his head into his hands and moaned so loudly that Klaus had to bite back a laugh. “For the love of- can we please move on already? This is getting exhausting, and I’m _dead_.”

“If it was a real problem, Luther,” Klaus filled in for Ben. “I would have gone to a hospital by now, or gotten one of you to make sure I didn’t bleed out, but I’m still alive!” he clapped his hands together. “Now can we please for the love of fuck get this over with? I need to piss and someone needs to make sure Luther’s brain isn’t going to start leaking out of his ears.”

Sighing, Vanya reluctantly stood from where she was crouched beside Klaus and pulled her phone out of her pocket before turning on the torch and shinning it in Luther’s eyes. He complained the whole time, and Klaus felt a moment of pride, but eventually, she put the phone away. “It must not be a bad concussion. His eyes aren’t that dilated. Let me get another ice-pack for Diego and I’ll see what else needs doing.” As she walked back towards the kitchen, she paused by Allison, who stood behind Five’s chair. “Could you help me for a sec?”

As the two girls left, Klaus collapsed back into the chair, his legs crossed over the arm-rests and his head hanging back. He caught sight of the large window at the back and the moonlight large in the sky. There was a violin case resting on the chair, and Klaus almost wanted to get up and start playing it but stayed put if only for the knowing look Ben was sending him and the fear of ruining his sister’s violin. “Do you think Vanya would play something for us if I begged her hard enough?”

“She better fucking not,” Five mumbled, already mostly asleep. “Because there is no way that I’ll be sleeping with such a damn racket.”

“You can sleep though Klaus screaming at the top of his lungs every night,” Diego grunted as he got into a better position on the couch, as far away from Luther as he could get. “I think you’ll be able to sleep through a few seconds of a violin.”

Ben groaned and flattened himself against the floor. Klaus glanced down at him with raised brows. “Klaus, can you make me solid again? I want to give them all a slap.”

Ignoring him, Klaus rose a hand to his face to inspect his nails. “You know, I was a little worried about losing one of these fuckers, but I’m glad I’ve still got them all.”

“Are you talking about us or your nails?” Luther asked, exasperated.

“I don’t see how those two are mutually exclusive.”

Diego looked like he was about to reply, but at that moment, Allison and Vanya returned from wherever they had gone with arms laden with pillows and blankets, piled so high that their siblings could hardly see the tops of their heads. Dumping them on the ground, Vanya tossed Diego the ice-pack before she began to spread them out as Allison replied. “Because we are your siblings. Your nails are not. We can die. Your nails can not.”

“We didn’t even have the same parents!” Klaus complained. “Sure, our adopted father was a complete and utter fuckup, and that made us a bunch of adopted fuckups, but we’re not flesh and blood.” Ben rolled his eyes at him.

Vanya interrupted before anyone could argue. “I don’t have much room here, but if you guys would like to stay here for the night, then you’re welcome to. I have plenty of blankets, and there’s food in the fridge.”

“Ben wants to know who gets the bed?” Klaus asked, humour heavy in his voice, and Vanya snorted, so that was good. One out of six wasn’t bad.

“Vanya.” All his siblings said in unison, completely serious.

“Vanya.” Ben agreed, standing up from where the blankets were dropped on him and glowering sarcastically at Klaus with his hands on his hips. “I would never even suggest anyone else. It’s her house we’re destroying. Don’t use me as a ploy to make yourself more comfortable.”

Klaus shrugged. “It was worth a shot.”

**Author's Note:**

> I know this seems far-fetched but here's why they couldn't escape-
> 
> Five has been proven not to be able to teleport when he is holding things (like Dolores and the gun). Diego had his knives taken away so he couldn't cut his way free. Luther was tied down with heavy chains and he was hit pretty had so when he woke up, he was disoriented. Allison couldn't get out but they gagged her for obvious reasons. Vanya probably could have gotten herself out but she was probably still worried about using her powers so she didn't fight back against them when they caught her so they just tied her up and just left her there.
> 
> This was set in the future so Ben has more physical form because Klaus is super sober and much more powerful now that he knows what he's doing.


End file.
